My own blog post already has several other links to other folks’ blogs too, pointing to posts on related topics. You may find some stuff there to interest you, or perhaps you’re familiar with them already.

I like this line Tim: “It’s a waste of time to create a talking head video that simply lectures to your learners.” Way too much do I see a talking head, or worse yet an animated talking head that just becomes creepy. Always ask “does this add anything for the learner?”

I think I have read studies that show including an animated avatar (or a talking human face) increases comprehension and retention because our brains are “hardwired” to pay attention to human faces. No?

Although I don’t care for the look and feel of an animated avatar (I think they’re creepy), I do think there is a time and place for a “talking head.”

I think my issue with it is that I’ve never seen it done well. Like I always say, everything should be done with intention. But too often do I see people use video/animated talking heads because it looks cool, not because it enhances the content.

I’d be curious to see the data on it…I feel another blog post coming on!

I don’t actually use them myself. But I do think there’s some evidence that having a human face (even an animated avatar) helps to focus the attention of the learner, and I think that’s one of the reasons these are used.

Our brains are designed to automatically look for and pay attention to faces (I’m not sure if it’s human faces or if any face will do–for example, you’d think it’s important to recognize and pay attention to the face of a leopard too).

“Try using online video that includes people (either animated or “real life” people). For a brief explanation why, go to this course from the behavioral psychologist Dr. Susan Weinschenk (who goes by the name of “The Brain Lady”) and watch the free sample of Video 42, “Why Online Video is Compelling.””

I have read similar things elsewhere, including a study that I read several years ago at a website created by Adobe as part of their support services for Captivate.

Thanks for sharing this! Good info here. I’d love to conduct an experiment with a course and have one with a video and one without, then test the learners on the content and see if there’s a difference. I can definitely see the benefits of having a human face in some instances…just as long as it’s intentional and serves a purpose.

I agree there’s definitely some use cases for a person talking in a lesson, like a subject matter expert telling a story or really cementing an idea. When I see an animated person lecturing to me though, I instantly want to turn it off. When I see a person giving a really captivating lecture who is giving a good performance also though, I think there’s a true place for this along with the slides so we know what the presenter is talking about.

I guess my thought would be you just have to be careful and not just stick a talking head in there because research says it’s better. Sometimes it’s better, sometime’s it’s not. You just have to ask yourself, “why am I putting this here?”